ART AND THE MAGIC SQUARE, PART V

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Tibetan mandala was a visual expression of the macrocosm of the universe using a symbolic microcosm that included:

The square

The circle

The four cardinal directions

The four seasons

The axis mundi

Numerology, in this case the Luo Shu or 3x3 Magic Square

The quincunx or quinary grouping of images

Color

The map of the universe, Time and Space, and transfiguration are all concepts of the mandala. The mandala represents an elaborate palace or temple with a geometry that assists in the attainment of “Supreme Illumination”.

In a mandala, the quinary grouping of images and symbols is psychologically significant as well as indicating the four cardinal points that revolve round a center which conditions them, thereby evolving a succession in time and space round itself.
(Guiseppe Tucci, The Theory and Practice of the Mandala)

The Luo Shu shares some of these very characteristics with the mandala:

The Luo Shu represented thecosmology of the early Chinese, the macro expressed by the micro

The quincunx, the four cardinal directions, and Heaven are represented by the odd numbers (the cross in square)

The Luo Shu was a model for the Ming Tang Temple, or Temple of Illumination (Sir Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. III)

The square and circle relationship is well represented by the two dimensional magic square and it's three dimensional torus (see post below)

Many scholars have reported the Luo Shu as the basis of temple design (the Chinese Ming Tang, the Indian Stupa, and the Lama Dagoba) as well as being the foundation of the mandala. (Cammann, Snodgrass, Schinz, Wheatley, Granet)